CUV/PICCHIOTTI`s

[cfun]

Toleman back then must have been a godsend for powerboat racing in the form of increased media profile coming from the glamour of F1, he must be one of offshore's most famous names to regularly compete or am I wrong

PS ... off course outside of the bandit

[FLYING FISH]

Toleman was probably the last of the stalwarts of OP1 when big boat racing was running out of steam in the UK,before the 30 boat fields of the Italian circuit came into being.The one thing I will always remember is that if it wasn`t for his presence,then we would not have had all those Video Vision tapes of the racing in the early eighties.VHS had just arrived,but prior to that it was Beta or those monster Philips tapes on N1500 machines,and before that 16mm film.The yanks use to charge £100 for 12 minutes of 16mm film of the U.S. races,so that was a no no.

[littlenige]

Graham, sorry to dig this one out! I just came across this Nooxy hull (cat). Do you know the deal? CUV cat yes?? Totally unsuccesful? It looks like one of your shots but I just looked through your library again and it's not there! What's the story?

[FLYING FISH]

Pic is from a CUV book.
Design by Advanced Design Group,41ft,1985.
I have no record of it racing.
This is Marco territory.Send up a flare.

[Black_Tornado]

The ghosts come back occasionally.
In what that Graham wrote right I can only add that the Advanced Design Group created specifically for this 'memorable' project included the designer of the hull-the engineer Stefano Rossi and the deck was designed by the son of Angelo Spelta, Damiano that shortly undertake a more satisfying career as a offshore driver.
The boat was ready to race in Montecarlo in 1985 but the rough sea conditions made the Spelta opt for their mono 38'.
The cat then run in Saint Tropez where was confirmed the doubts of the tests,lack of portance of the tunnel could never exceed 75mph.
The boat I think was scrapped.
I suspect that Rossi to design the cat has inspired by the "Jackie S"(1967) of Savundra or the "News Of The World" of Twiss that Graham remember well.
I do not understand how there can notice it already in the planning stages that a boat will be effective or not in water.
Then they spend money to build, paint and rigged.
Then he gets a call and we realize that the wing does not do his duty .... stories of ghosts or Lochness monsters like these the offshore world is full.
Remember for example the cats of Molinari for Niccolai and that of Seebold for Cosentino both at the Worlds in Venice 1979,then there was that of Corbelli and his ridicolous trimaran etc etc.
I think that one day we must dedicate a thread to the monsters & co..

btw; Hey Nigel pull out your avatar that we can see better. I think is an interesting your thing back in the day...

[olli]

Originally Posted by Black_Tornado

...I think that one day we must dedicate a thread to the monsters & co...

Yes please!

[littlenige]

God look at that tunnel! No wonder it didn't run well! I agree - a monster thread would be good!

Marco . as requested - one of my posters I created as a kid for the '79 race when I was 15! PLus another but I can't remember which year it was for! I put the posters in our lounge window in Belle Vue Road, Cowes where I grew up!

[Black_Tornado]

Originally Posted by littlenige

God look at that tunnel! No wonder it didn't run well! I agree - a monster thread would be good!

Marco . as requested - one of my posters I created as a kid for the '79 race when I was 15! PLus another but I can't remember which year it was for! I put the posters in our lounge window in Belle Vue Road, Cowes where I grew up!

Nigel thinks the same year 625 miles south-east my friend Nicola prepared for me this report of the just ended 'our' race at Viareggio ....

[Ben]

Dam'n Nigel, you were a good artist! At age 15 I couldn't and still can't even draw flies.

[littlenige]

Hey Ben if the paper's thin enough..........................

[pete60]

It's not really clear to me from this thread but did the Dry Martini (ex Alitalia) run by Guido Niccolai in 1979/1980 go to Renato Della Valle in 1981?

I have a picture of him in 1981 in a boat which has the low deflector set up, like Dry Martini, rather than the bigger angled screen/deflector common on the later CUVs. I also thought that this boat was the ex Dry Martini and the screen/deflector was altered after 1981.

And what happened to Niccolai that caused his racing activies to abruptly cease?

[Black_Tornado]

Originally Posted by pete60

It's not really clear to me from this thread but did the Dry Martini (ex Alitalia) run by Guido Niccolai in 1979/1980 go to Renato Della Valle in 1981?

I have a picture of him in 1981 in a boat which has the low deflector set up, like Dry Martini, rather than the bigger angled screen/deflector common on the later CUVs. I also thought that this boat was the ex Dry Martini and the screen/deflector was altered after 1981.

And what happened to Niccolai that caused his racing activies to abruptly cease?

You are right. You can see the versions in the Graham Library.
Della Valle bought the old 38' of Niccolai after the his successful debut in the offshore competitions at the Viareggio-Bastia-Viareggio in 1981.
So with the colors of the sponsor, the TV network Canale 5 of his friend Berlusconi Della Valle trips to England, then the boat was returned to Viareggio for a re-lift at the CUV and was ready in few weeks then being sent in Florida just in time for the Worlds at Key West with the colors of the new sponsor Rothmans.
About Niccolai for that year in october was arrested then imprisoned on chargesand for having used for personal purposes (including offshore races) large sums of money-about 40 billion- from the bank Steinhauslin of Florence of which he was board member.
The evils in Viareggio said that Niccolai would continue to follow his beloved Viareggio-Bastia-Viareggio from the slits of the old prison-fortress island of Gorgona.

[pete60]

Thank you Black Tornado. Offshore racing and criminal activities are often connected!

Can you tell me about Miura (Alberto Petri)? Was this a new boat?

[Black_Tornado]

Originally Posted by pete60

Thank you Black Tornado. Offshore racing and criminal activities are often connected!

Can you tell me about Miura (Alberto Petri)? Was this a new boat?

You know Pete60 offshore racing requires a lot of money and those who has sweated for them they must have passion to invest in this sport.
However, about Niccolai of passion he had and it was pure, I can tell you this.
As for Miura of Petri was a new 38' rigged by Franco Statua during the winter of 1983-84 in the former site of Navalconsult of Petroni who had been the base of Smania until 1983.
I have an anecdote about the controversial owner-driver Italian-Argentinian producer of coffee Alberto Petri and it was told by the same Statua.
During the last race of the 1984 World Championships in Viareggio,the sea was really rough and they had to go in Gorgona after a first course along the coast. So it was the course of Viareggio-Bastia-Viareggio race in half.
While the Miura faced the waves towards the island of Gorgona Franco Statua that was busy finding the right setting with the trim and throttled noticed that Petri at the helm in the center of the cockpit was waving something.
Petri was in a absolute panic and Statue lifts his visor to hear what he was saying. When he realized he wanted to go back to Viareggio abandoning the race Franco that had lived the experience of the memorable Cowes-Torquay-Cowes in 1971, showing fists to Petri shouted that everything was under control and that would go up in Gorgona at all costs otherwise would split the face with a fist through the visor.
They went and won the race and world title.
Petri after on the podium posed for the photos all proud with the laurel wreath and with side the organizer of the World Cup Petroni,who was the protagonist of the 1971 CTC with Statua and Bonelli(injuried).
I wouldn't like to see the status of Petri's suit when he returned to the hotel.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by littlenige

Hey Ben if the paper's thin enough..........................

You made a good job of it. My tracing was crap.

[pete60]

Thanks Marco for the inside information. As usual, you are a font of knowledge!

What became of Miura? Was it one of the CUVs running around a few years ago in P1?

I have a real soft spot for the CUV hulls. It's a shame that none of them ever ended up in Australia. I think they would have been right at home in the Australian conditions.

[Black_Tornado]

Yes, for several years the boat modified in the deck raced again.During the nineties in Endurance Trophy and then after 2000 in the new born P1.
This is the most recent image I have of the boat, 2007. I think that it is still there.
The only time you could have seen a CUV 38' in action could be at the World Championships in Melbourne in 1980 but the Italian driver of the OP I class gave up costly travel.
The CUV were generally little exported abroad. There was one case in the U.S., one UK and one more recently one in France, the latter then returned to be the original Cinzano in 2009.

[FLYING FISH]

Originally Posted by Black_Tornado

The CUV were generally little exported abroad. There was one case in the U.S., one UK and one more recently one in France, the latter then returned to be the original Cinzano in 2009.

1986 Auckland Worlds - Della Valle (Eberhard & Co) + G.Repossi (Nooxy),is about a close as a CUV got to that part of the world.

[Black_Tornado]

Originally Posted by FLYING FISH

1986 Auckland Worlds - Della Valle (Eberhard & Co) + G.Repossi (Nooxy),is about a close as a CUV got to that part of the world.

That time in the calm bay of Auckland Spelta-Diridoni-Repossi had a bad accident with the fastest 38' became unstable with the Arneson.
A year later the same "thrill" he had to prove the son Damiano Spelta with the same boat.

[Mikko Oikari]

http://web.mac.com/jpaikos/iWeb/Site/Boat.html